Ax Lifetime Tenure, N.J. School Boards Group Urges

The association representing school boards in New Jersey has called
for the end of lifetime teacher certification and tenure.

In a written proposal issued as part of a wider statewide debate
over school finance and academic standards, the New Jersey School
Boards Association said the change was needed to overhaul the education
system for the 21st century.

"Do we want to carry the same labor-management model we've had for
90 years?" said Robert E. Boose, the group's executive director.
"Surely there is a way to look at a new and improved way to put the
best staff in front of children."

The association's March 21 document, "An Educational System for the
Next Century," endorses curriculum standards in seven content areas
that have been proposed by the administration of Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman. The group presented its recommendations at a legislative
hearing in Trenton and lawmakers are studying them, officials said.

In addition, the association proposes replacing the lifetime tenure
guarantee that the state's teachers receive after three years with
"renewable contract tenure." Teachers would receive tenure protection
for contract periods of three to five years, but their job performance
could be reviewed at contract-renewal time.

Is Tenure Obsolete?

"This is not doing away with ten-ure," he said. "It's modernizing
it."

The association also calls for requiring teachers to keep current in
their subject areas and maintain their skills to keep their teaching
certificates, which are currently good for life after a one-year
provisional period. Under the association's plan, a standard teaching
certificate would be renewable every five years.

Teachers' union officials gave the proposals a chilly response.

"One has to ask about the real motivation here," said Lynn Maher, a
spokeswoman for the New Jersey Education Association, an affiliate of
the National Education Association.

While it is true that employees have gained more civil-rights and
other legal protections in recent years, she said, "few workplaces are
as political as public schools. A new board of education is elected
every few years, and they have a lot of power to hire and fire
personnel."

School districts already have sufficient tools to get rid of
ineffective teachers, she said.

But the school boards' group said that the average tenure-revocation
case takes 16 months to work its way through the system. Because of the
time and expense involved, districts "file tenure charges only in the
most egregious circumstances," the document states.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.